Man cuts deal to avoid third trial in teen's 2007 shooting death in west Oak Cliff

In July 2007, Anthony McMillian shot 14-year-old Raymond Jefferson to death outside a house in west Oak Cliff. There was never any doubt about that.

There were, however, questions about the circumstances of the shooting. Did Jefferson, a Lancaster High School freshman, charge McMillian, or did McMillian indiscriminately fire his handgun into a crowd, as Jefferson’s family has always maintained?

Twice — in 2009 and again this year — juries were unable to answer those questions and agree on whether McMillian committed murder.

This week, McMillian cut a deferred adjudication deal with prosecutors that will grant him conditional freedom and allow him to avoid a third trial. If he doesn’t violate the terms of the deal during the next decade, then his plea of guilt will not show up on his record.

According to court documents, police reports and media accounts, McMillian, now 48, went to the house on Altoona Drive on July 7, 2007. He and his girlfriend, Gloria Potts, intended to retrieve her daughter Amber and Amber’s 3-week-old son. Amber had called Potts to say she’d been fighting with the baby’s father, Orlando Finley, and asked her mom to come pick them up.

Potts brought McMillian along for the ride. But a dispute over the baby turned physical, and a ruckus ensued — with Finley’s brother, Raymond, caught up in the brawl.

According to the original arrest affidavit, McMillian was standing near his car when the fight broke out. At that point, the affidavit says, Raymond Jefferson “looked at Anthony McMillian and began to charge at him.” Police said McMillian fired as the teen ran toward him. He didn’t have a concealed-handgun permit, but police said McMillian had filled out paperwork for one.

“He’s not a thug,” McMillian’s attorney, Phillip Hayes, told The Dallas Morning News in July 2007. “He’s not somebody who’s looking for trouble. He made a decision in a split second that, looking back, may not have been the right decision.”

McMillian first went to trial in August 2009. Hayes said McMillian could have left the scene but that doing so would have endangered his girlfriend, her daughter and the newborn. He also said McMillian had no idea Jefferson was 14.

Jurors were unable to reach a unanimous verdict, and Judge Andy Chatham declared a mistrial. Two months ago, a new jury was empaneled, and it also was unable to reach a verdict.

This week, court documents show, McMillian cut a deal with the state to avoid further prosecution. According to the terms, he will be given credit for time served and be placed under 10 years of community supervision. However, he also must serve 120 more days in the Dallas County Jail. He was booked in Thursday morning.

Hayes said Friday morning that McMillian will serve 12 days in jail each year for the next decade and that those days will include Raymond Jefferson’s birthday and Christmas.

Hayes said it was “pretty easy” for McMillian to drop his self-defense claim in exchange for the plea bargain because “he’s always known he’s responsible” for Jefferson’s death. “He’s never been able to talk about it without breaking down in tears.”

Attempts to reach Jefferson’s family were unsuccessful Friday. But Hayes acknowledged: “They would have liked to have seen it come out with a different result.”

A benefit of the court deal is that everyone will be spared a third trial, Hayes said. “Nobody’s happy” with the result, he said, “but everybody understands.”

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